Indiegogo Campaign for collection 'Beauty Devours the Beast'

My recent project I've embarked on is a collaborative fashion collection which I'm doing with my mum. We plan to have our show next year in April. So we have a busy year ahead making all the outfits. It's going to be a challenge trying to make between twenty to thirty outfits each. The collection is going to be named 'Beauty Devours the Beast' and is going to be inspired by the elements.

We launched our Indiegogo campaign three days ago and have now got five funders. To reach our goal we have been sharing or link through all the social media sites, which we discovered has taken a lot of time to do. You can see our crowd funding page by clicking on the link bellow and it would be much appreciated if you could spread the word by sharing it. The funds would go towards the cost of the venue, fabrics, making booklets, paying models etc. You would be able to find our more by reading our story on Indiegogo. http://igg.me/at/BeautyDevourstheBeast/x/11611762

Ninth Week - Fashion Show

This week I just finished the finishing details on my outfits, and then I did a moodboard, final fashion illustrations and lay plans, which aren't quite finished yet. I still have more to do, but I can do this next week at college. On Wednesday was our fashion show, I came into college at 9:30am and stayed in Ashford till about 9pm, it was a long day. In between college and the show, I had to wonder around town for a few hours with all my stuff, which isn't easy when you have lots. I painted my nails while sitting on a bench, every nail in a different pastel colour. My models arrived at 3:30, which was good as we didn't get into the building till about that time. Then we went through a practice run, which was good as last year my models didn't get one, which makes them more nervous. Then I did all my models make-up and hair, and luckily the outfits fitted them all right as I wasn't sure before, because I didn't get to do a fitting as they were at Uni.

Once we were all dressed, we went outside for a group photo and individual photos. It was a long wait till the show, and my sister got a bad migraine, luckily Alice had pain killers, but I don't think they worked very well, well not till after the show. I think the show was successful, after all my friends/models got changed we came out to get a drink and socialise (I did make business cards to give out, but no one was around to do that) but by that time there was no drinks left and people were leaving, which wasn't very good, I think it would of been better to have more of an after party.

Eighth Week

This week I finished printing my merry-go-around skirt and added the scalloped top with the pom-pom trim, I'm not sure now if doing a zig zag stitch to put the fabric on is the best idea, as it hasn't all court, and I need to think if I should go over this again or leave it. I also sewed interfacing on to my lining and main fabric of my corset, to make it more stiff and then sewed that and attached it the skirt. I had another problem with the skirt being bigger then the corset and also one side being longer then the other that it didn't meet up, I had help from the tutor in working out how it can join together and what fastening to put on it. I haven't quite finished it yet and brought it home to add eyelets and boning. I also went on photoshop to edit my biscuit print ready to print out, I had help from tutor in working out how to lay the A3 pieces of paper on pattern paper so they all linked together, being that it was a circle skirt it was a challenge, not the easiest skirt to print on, I decided to have my circle skirt cut in four section then sewn together after printing as this would be the easiest way to do it. I digital printed these on by using the heat press, which was really hot after being on for such a long time. It's not perfect as you can see the lines where the pieces of paper overlapped or the white gaps in between, which I tried not to have, I tried my best in getting it right, which is what really matters. I haven't yet made a waistband but have the weekend and next week to get it done. I'm happy that I have two outfits nearly finished, just have under a week now to crack down and finish everything ready for the fashion show next Wednesday. It's very annoying that I got a cold this week (Tuesday night) as it's distracting me from doing my best and when I came home on the Wednesday I felt awful, had the worse headache ever and went to bed for about 5pm. I hope it clears soon as I want to be healthy and clear headed for next week. Today I'm thinking about styling for the catwalk and photo-shoot and will do some work in my sketchbook. I hope to do some making also and next week I really need to finish my layplans, costings and step by steps, as I don't want to get behind on my technical file.

Seventh week

This week I stared making, I started by cutting out my fabric and then I first made my cloak, I asked the tutor how I could have the ears standing up and had to adapt my pattern to allow for a slit to be on the hood, so a headband with rabbit ears could poke through. I then realised after making it that I should allowed a section of fabric to come out for the buttons, but by not realising it I manipulated the extra fabric to fit in with the hood. I have yet not finished sewing the buttons on and have taken it home so I can do it there. I was happy with how the cape turned out it looks beautifully with the lining. I also asked to have a screen coated, so could start screen printing, the first screen turned out very bad with lots of the emulsion running of the screen, so on the Wednesday when I remembered to take my drawing in, I had another screen coated and this time it turned out much better, not perfect as there was some pin hole marks on the screen, but I tried to cover this with masking tape. I started to print the horses on the skirt, I couldn't do all five horses in a go, as I had not positioned them accurately so they would go around in a circle, but I managed to do three at a time, apart from the two ends where I just did one horse, because of the angle. Some of the horses have marks missing, as it didn't print quite right, but hopefully this wont be noticeable when wearing the skirt. This was time consuming, so I didn't get it finish that day. The weekend I did lots of sketchbook work, analysing my visual studies, samples and illustrations. I also started thinking about props for the photo-shoot and location, and did some pages in my book about it. I also made one bag, by upcyling a stuffed unicorn toy and adding lining, a zip and straps.

Half Term - Sixth Week

I was hoping to do lots of work this week, but I haven't done as much as I hoped. I couldn't print anything off as we needed to get more ink for the printer, so I could put any images in my sketchbook to then analyse and write about, so I got to do this next week, so I don't get behind. What I did do was buy some fabric for making my outfits next week, I went to Whitstable and looked in the fabric shop there, I bought a trimming from that shop. Then I went into Canterbury the next day to see the fabric on the market stalls and bought most of my fabric from them and then went to C&H Fabric to get the rest. I think I might be needing to buy some more fabric for lining the coat and corset, so if I do need that, I need to do that next week. I also customized two pairs of shoes to go with my outfits. I made one pair look like a vanilla cake with pink frosting and the other to look like a purple ice cream. I like the ice cream shoes more, it was easier to paint those as they were leathery, while the other shoes were a textured fabric, so they turned out looking quite different. The medium I used to paint these were acrylic paint and 3D paint, I need to find something like glue to coat over the paint, so they last longer. I still need to add the final details of the cherry and strawberry on the tips of the shoes, which I bought on the internet. I found stuffed unicorn toys which I thought I could turn into a bag to go with my outfit, by unpicking the top and taking out the stuffing and then putting lining in and the handles.

I also bought two wigs for fashion show and photo-shoot. One has arrived, the other I'm hoping will come in time. I have the pink and purple wig to go with my merry-go-around dress, and the blonde and pink wig to go with my cape. I really want to make two outfits for the fashion show, so I have to crack down and do lots at college, so I can have both of them. I would model the dress and I want my sister to wear the cape with hopefully a printed skirt. I really need to make a daily plan for what I want to achieve each day at college from when I go back till the fashion show.

Fifth Week

On Monday I fished my first toile of my corset and I had to adapt it because it was not fitting right, it was to long and flappy around the bust. So I made a new pattern and made a toile of that, which on Tuesday I had to adapt again, for the last finishing touches so it would fit like a glove on my body. I also made a toile of my circle skirt which also needed adapting as I made it to big, I didn't measure it to the top so it would fit, only to my body. I then sewed both corset and skirt together and decided to have lacing up the back, I needed to make a placket for the skirt, which I did and that needed also to be a little bigger for when I make my final garment. I also made my hood and cape pattern and cut that out of calico to see if it would work, the hood was good, though I still need to make rabbit ears to go on that. The cape needed adapting, as the front and back weren't lining up together, so drew that onto my toile, and I needed to add an extra bit for the buttons. I was pleased that I managed to complete these as the dress and cape are important. Though I haven't made a bag pattern, but haven't decided yet what print and bag I want to have, so over the half term it is my goal to choose what I'm having and what to make to complete the full look.

At home I made some pocket samples which could go on a dress, I think they look really cute and like this idea. Then At college I did my screen printed samples, first by using a pink I made up on my tea party print, the colour to me looks more red then pink, so wasn't completely happy about that. When printing on either spotty or gingham fabric, I have found out you can still see lightly that pattern through the paint, though I do like having this fabric as a background, so need to think if I like this or not.

I also did some more supplementary printing of different cupcake prints and all over sweet designs, by edited the sweet out of the cupcake print and then randomly putting it all the page by copying and pasting. I really like the sweet one, but might redraw the sweet in another colour like a bright purple and pink, the blue background didn't go as the sweet was lost on the fabric, but the yellow looks good and the design pops. I also did some appliqué designs, like having bits of fabric to create my merry-go-around, I really like how this one has turned out as well.

Fourth Week

This week I have started my samples, I started by doing supplementary printing and had lots of trouble by scanning the images onto the computer. I found Photoshop hard as well and had help with cutting around my images and putting different backgrounds in. I went crazy with experimenting with different background colours, to see which one I like more, this was with my biscuit print, which I really like, but the cutting around could be done better and the background is a little patchy, so need to practice doing this more on Photoshop.

I have started doing pattern cutting, I started off by doing a full puffy sleeve, measuring it so it would fit around my arm. Then I made a circle skirt to my size. At this stage in time I have not made up my mind which outfit I would like to make, so I decided to start pattern cutting my two favourite and then chose which one I will make after. All my deigns have circle skirts so choosing to do that was easy and I knew I making it to my size as I was planning to model the outfit. I then decided to make a bodice block to my size, by getting my measurements put onto a mannequin and bolding the calico onto the body shape. Once I made the bodice block, I started with my first idea for the top by drawing the design on, which was the bib one cutting that out. I also made a peter pan collar pattern to go with that top. I then drew out my second design which was a corset and cut that out of calico, so I could begin make a toile of it, I first just used the overlocker to join it together, but then realised I needed to use the sewing machine as I was not getting the proper seam allowance.

I also put some of my drawings onto a screen to begin screen printing, I redrew my images again but with black ink, I hope to finish all my samples next week.

Third week

This week it was my mission to complete all my visual studies, development work and illustrations. I worked really hard each day and stayed up most nights till about eleven, it took up a lot of time. I am happy with all the work I did, but still have lots more to finish. I still need to analyse my work, and finish a couple of visual studies.

But I have managed to have enough work to complete fifteen dress designs, ten bags and ten coat designs. Which is good as I plan to pattern cut, and make samples next week, this is because the fashion show changed dates and we have less time to do everything by.

I really enjoyed doing my development work. I love the merry-go-around idea with the pom pom trimming, I like the dollies with the tea party print, I can see this looking really pretty on a dress, and I like my repeat pattern of the biscuits, which I can see would be very striking when doing sublimation printing...I plan to design some shoes, which I will customize in a couple of weeks, when I've decided what outfit I'm making...I am now needing to get reviews on my illustrations, and do final illustrations after I've chosen what I'm making.

Second Week

This week I have been carrying on with artist research and primary drawing in my sketchbook, I have done about 14 pages of drawings, which I'm happy about as that equals to one drawing each day over the course of two weeks. Though I still need to analyse and evaluation all my sketchbook work, which I will try and complete over the next couple of weeks. I now want to move on to the next step, which is doing visual studies, developing embellishment ideas and creating fashion illustrations of a collection. I hope I can do all of that in one week, I was originally going to give myself two weeks, but because of the fashion show being changed so it will be sooner, I want to make sure I can get everything done as soon as possible, so I can start pattern cutting and making samples... I tried to sign up to be a member of this forum called My Asian Fashion, but something isn't working as I never got a confirm email which would let me log on. This is very annoying, as I was hoping to post my illustrations, visual studies and samples on there, so I could get reviews from people that like Sweet Lolita fashion, I will try to find another forum or figure out how I can use this one.

Trip to London

Today we went on a college trip to London. We first went to the V&A to go to the Alexander McQueen exhibition Savage Beauty, which was really good. I liked how the rooms were displayed with the wild kingdom having bones all over the wall and the Cabinet of Curiosity being displayed like shelves, though that room it was very hard to see all the outfits as they were so high up...I loved all his outfits, they were out-there, not ordinary clothes, more for people not afraid to stand out, which I want my collection to be like...I absolutely love his shoes and think they are very unusual and want to do shoes also by customizing a plain pair to make interesting like his ones...When we got out we had time to look around the V&A, but I've looked around the museum loads of times already and knew I wouldn't find any inspiration for this project there, so we just wandered.

Then we went to the Tate Modern museum to see Sonia Delaunay's exhibition. I thought all her paintings looked the same and didn't get any inspiration from that exhibition, it only took 5 minutes to look around, so was disappointed. The only things that were slightly interesting were the photos, fashion illustrations and costumes. When we got out it was very boring and long...The day could of been better if we had less waiting around and went to more interesting places as well as what we did, like fabric shops or other museums.

First Week

This week I have been gathering inspiration by looking at different artists and drawing from primary sources. I think I have done lots in my book over the course of the week. I have looked at loads of artists which have inspired me for looking at prints and pattern cutting techniques. I've experimented with making my book look as interesting as possible, as I don't want to leave a blank page as a background. My favourite primary drawing this week is my teapot and teacup which I did out of felt, I really like this idea and will develop it more. I have got to go over my pages and analyse all my drawings and pictures, as this is my weak point and I always leave it till I've done everything else. I didn't reach my goal of doing one primary drawing each day, and will try to catch up with this the following week. Last Saturday I went to Quaint Queer Weird Wedding fair in Chatham, I thought it would be interesting as it was alternative clothes like fairies, steampunk and burlesque, I was hoping their would be lots of costumes for inspiration and maybe Japanese inspired. However their wasn't much of anything, and only two stalls had dresses on, so I was quite disappointed and didn't get any inspiration for this project from it. On Sunday I went to Pets At Home and it was a very short visit, but I managed to take loads of photos of the bunny rabbits. They were so cute and I wanted to take one home with me to keep as a pet. For next week I am going to draw or do some type of textile based picture of the rabbit, which I think will come useful as either a print on my garment or the shape of my coat, which could have bunny ears.

Finding inspiration

Over this week, I have went to Canterbury and London, and found inspiration for print, I've taken photos of confectionery foods, like sweets and cakes. Which I will then draw in different mediums in my sketchbook.

I also went to Whitstable where I found gorgeous pastel colours painted on houses and beach huts, and had to take photos of them, as I think these colours are what I want to have on my garment.

Cinderella Exhibition

Today I went to London with my friend to go to London Dungeons and go shopping in Oxford Street, but when I heard that there was a Cinderella Exhibition, I knew for certain I wanted to go there and needed to squeeze it in my day somewhere. I thought we could term up in Leicester Square Gardens and go in, straight after we got off the coach at 10:20am. However we turned up and went to the box office and was told the next available tickets (which were free, all the ones online had gone, so we could not purchase them until the day you show up) was not till 5pm, which was hours away. At 4pm we had tickets for London Dungeons and I thought that would go on for a couple of hours, so I asked for tickets for 6pm, which was cutting it tight as our coach was leaving London Victoria at 7:30pm.

After we got out of the London Dungeons it was one crazy rush to Leicester Square, we didn't get there till about 6:15pm, and my friend wondered if our tickets would still be valid as we was a little late. When we saw the long queue I began to panic and think I would never get to go in, but after asking a employee who was selling booklets, she informed us that people with tickets go to a much smaller queue, and that the longer queue was for people with no tickets that are willing to wait for a very long time to get in, if I knew this earlier I might of waited in that long queue first thing...

Before going in I bought a brochure with photos and information inside of the exhibition. When we finally got in, we discovered that in every room there was a person that gave an explanation for each room, like a guided tour. I thought at first oh it's going to take forever to go all the way around, but we went around in about 15 to 20 minutes, I would of liked to stay longer to read all the information about the costumes and to examine everything more closely, but we was running out of time, and if I had stayed 10 minutes longer we would have missed our coach.

I took photos of all the costumes, I absolutely love them, and these kind of outfits are what I want to create. I have always loved fantasy/fairy-tale costumes from movies like Mirror Mirror, Hunger Games and now Cinderella, I would like to go into a career designing and making fantasy period inspired costumes. I like that Sandy Powell mixed different periods into her fantasy designs, like she said "the Once Upon A Time period is a mixture of 19th century and 18th century, with a bit of 1940s and 50s thrown in." All the costumes are different and I love that. The fabrics are beautiful and the Swarovski jewels in the fairy godmothers dress are so pretty.

My favourite characters costumes are the Ugly sisters dresses, though I wouldn't call them ugly as they are beautiful! I like the 50s inspired flowery dresses in yellow and pink, and their ball gowns in pink and green, with the print and 3d flowers sewn on are amazing.

Originally for my Final Project I thought I could have the theme as Fantasy Fairy-tale costumes, and I still love that idea, but I chose to do Japanese Fashion. I would like to make my Lolita Japanese Fashion also influenced by the fairy-tale period, maybe with a mix of both themes, so it's still Japanese influenced but is big and flamboyant just like these costumes. I will look at Sandy Powell as a costume designer as well as other fantasy costume designers and put their work in my sketchbook, to also go with the Japanese fashion artists I have in their.

I love Sandy Powell's costume illustrations and when I get that far with my project I might do one in the style of hers. There was a costume design competition on Tumblr for designing a Cinderella dress to then be made, and I entered it with three designs, which are bellow, I loved drawing these designs, however I didn't win as I didn't get enough votes to get into the top 10 to be considered.

Third Day - Paris

We got up a little earlier today, to first go to a small museum called Musee Cognacq-jay. I was inspired by the draped fabric on the four poster bed, and could see this fabric design draped on a skirt. There was a room that was pink and had childlike object, I thought this was cool, and very sweet Lolita like with the Barbie doll and the colours. I also loved some of the historical costumes and thought they were very flamboyant, which I hope my garment will be.

We then had a quick stop into town, where it was very hard to find food and then we got lost coming back to the meeting point as it was such a big area and we was only given an hour there... I felt our trip to Paris was very jam packed, some times rushed, I think it would of been better to stay longer and spread out all the activities and see more of Paris.

The last trip we made was to the Louis Vuitton Foundation, the building looked good with all the angles and glass. However the inside wasn't what I was expecting, I though we was going to see a collection of clothes, but no it was different famous people's art, I didn't get any inspiration from what was displayed.

On the way back we saw a cute cake shop, where we stopped and I took some photos, I thought this was inspirational for a print. Later on the Eurostar home I got my sketchbook out and drew some of these in felt tip pen.

Second Day - Paris

I didn't have time to visit the Lolita shop called 'Baby The Stars Shine Bright' which I wanted to go to, as it opened at 11am which was too late as we needed to be some where else. I'm a little sad I missed the opportunity to go there, as they only have shops in Paris and Tokyo, and it's their style of clothing I would like to create for my project.

We first went to Yves St Laurent guided tour of his work building, the house was pretty impressive, it looked very posh with gorgeous gold mirrors, unfortunately we couldn't take any photos. I liked the illustrations, and the outfits that where made from his drawings, it was a good exhibition.

Then we went to an expensive area for lunch and to look around. Coral and I didn't look in the shops they looked very expensive, we just walked all the way down the street, grabbed a crape for lunch and sat outside the Louvre. I thought the glass pyramid was interesting, and if you was to design a garment based on it, you could make it out of pvc. I found all the buildings we had visited over the three days are quite impressive and could maybe include this in my project, if I decided to do gothic Lolita instead of sweet Lolita.

We went inside to the Les Arts Decratifs museum, I liked the period clothes displayed there, though it was so dark I couldn't take any good photos of them. I thought this could be inspirational for the style of the garment.

First Day - Paris

The trip on the Eurostar was really long, and was delayed because of problems in the tunnel that goes from England to France, I was really excited I was finally going to Paris, after it getting cancelled in January and also after not going last year because of cancelation. When we arrived we walked to our hostel the Generator, which was very nice, we left our bags there and then went on our first adventure. The first museum we went to was called The Pompidou Centre, which showed modern art, which I found boring and didn't get any inspiration from. I only took one photo of an art piece I found pretty, which you can see bellow.

Then we walked to the Notre Dam, to see the building, then we walked back, along the way back I thought the shops looked more interesting then the area we was looking at. On the way there, I wound an interesting window display which I thought could inspire my project and also a merry Go Round, which I thought was also inspiring, though I wish I could of taken nicer photos of it.

We also saw the Eiffel tower, and I wasn't expecting it to be so close to the road. Then went on a Bateaux Parisians river tour, later then expected, it was interesting, specially how big the Louvre is (it would take about four months to walk all around it).

We had dinner very late, about 12pm in a local restaurant to our hostel. I didn't understand the menu which is very frustrating and ended up getting a salad, because I couldn't find any other vegetarian option. I had got a migraine and felt dehydrated from the long day we had, so was glad went I got to go to sleep, as a good night sleep heals headaches.

Start of Final Major Project

Today I started writing my Brief for my Final Major Project at College. I chose to do Japanese Fashion as I have always been fascinated by their unusual culture and unique clothes. Particularly the Sweet Lolita look which is pastel and childlike. I get to choose what I want to make and I've always wanted to learn how to make a corset, so I plan to incorporate this in with my dress, which I will accessorize with a bag and a coat.

I will be continuing with writing my project proposal and creating a powerpoint of my idea for the project over this week. Then next Monday we will be going to Paris, which I'm very excited about as I've always wanted to go there. In Paris I will start my primary research, by taking lots of photos of street fashion, confectionery goods, and our visits to various museums where I hope to find inspiration.